Garden Grove-based Harbinger Motors Inc., a medium-sized EV cargo truck chassis maker, has raised $160 million to fuel the next stages of its growth with orders from new customer FedEx.
“It’s their first order with us,” said Harbinger CEO John Harris, in an interview Thursday with the Southern California News Group. “Among delivery vehicles in general, not just FedEx, it’s one of the largest orders.”
FedEx spokeswoman Savannah Haeger said the order for Harbinger chassis represents the first time the shipping company has paired an order in the medium-sized EV chassis space with an investment in the EV truck maker.
Haeger said this isn’t the only buy of EV delivery trucks for FedEx in this niche. In a separate deal announced in May 2024, FedEx made the largest purchase of medium-sized EV delivery trucks — which haul up to 26,000 pounds of cargo — from Michigan-based Shyft Group Inc. That’s when FedEx bought an initial order of 150 Blue Arc trucks at an undisclosed price.
Shyft is not connected with Harbinger chassis.
The privately held Harbinger said it received the $160 million investment from a group co-led by FedEx, Capricorn, an investment firm backing companies in electrification, and recreational vehicle maker THOR Industries in Elkhart, Indiana.
The latest funding round brings to more than $358 million that Harbinger has raised from financial backers since its inception in 2021, Harris said.
As part of the funding announcement, FedEx placed an order for 53 electric delivery truck chassis — which look like FedEx and UPS delivery trucks when customized — that will be delivered by the end of the year.
“Traditionally, the biggest fleets in the U.S. haven’t placed any big orders into electrification. There’s been a lot of people placing orders for two trucks, and four trucks and six trucks,” Harris said. “The nice thing about an order of two trucks is you can park them in front of the building and take a picture and talk about how you’re buying electric trucks, but it doesn’t actually make a difference.”
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The EV truck market has seen a shakeout this year as tax credits for buying electric-based chassis have disappeared. Harris noted he’s actually seen a pickup in interest from the transportation market to buy Harbinger’s EV chassis as rivals have pulled back.
For instance, ecommerce giant Amazon had been testing General Motors’ BrightDrop electric vans as part of its plan to bring 100,0000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by the end of the decade. But last month, GM officially pulled the plug its electric vans.
“We don’t view the BrightDrop vehicle as a competitor to us,” Harris said. “We felt that way before they discontinued it.”
Amazon, which owns a large position in Irvine-based EV maker Rivian, began adding custom-built electric delivery vans from the startup automaker in mid-2022. A Rivian spokeswoman couldn’t immediately say how many EV vans have been purchased by Amazon.
Others who have downsized their operations over the past year have included financially struggling Brea-based Mullen Automotive Inc., and New Jersey-based Cenntro Inc., which last year opened a large plant in Ontario where it planned to assemble drayage trucks and cargo vans.
In January 2025, Harbinger said that it wanted to build up production capacity at its Knott Avenue plant to meet demand for a flurry of chassis orders and expand its sales and parts and service operations for the nationwide rollout of its EV chassis. At the time, Harbinger said it employed about 250 people.
In the past year, Harbinger has added another 150 workers, and now has plans both “inside and outside of California” to add more plant capacity to accommodate its growth, according to Harris. “We’ve got lots of potential expansion projects in the works.”
Harbinger, which moved its headquarters from Gardena in July 2024, previously received vehicle orders from buyers like bread delivery company Bimbo Bakeries USA, the Nebraska-based postal service operator Mail Management Services Inc., and THOR.
The EV truckmaker was co-founded in 2021 by Harris, who previously worked at Costa Mesa-based defense technology company Anduril Industries Inc. and EV startups Faraday Future of Gardena and Xos Trucks in northeast Los Angeles.
Co-founders include Phillip Weicker, who serves as Harbinger’s chief technology officer and who formerly had key roles with San Jose-based lithium battery developer QuantumScape and Torrance-based EV carmaker Canoo; and Will Eberts, chief operating officer who worked with Harris at Faraday Future and with Weicker at Canoo.